Created by: CJ Orr

May 19, 2025

In today’s technologically driven world, artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed various industries, including fundraising for nonprofit organizations. AI tools have proven to be significant game-changers, enhancing efficiency, creativity, and personalization in donor engagement.

To capitalize on these opportunities, over 60% of nonprofits have started embracing AI in their operations. However, despite these high adoption rates, 92% of nonprofits feel unprepared for AI implementation.

To prepare your team to fully leverage AI, let’s understand the landscape and discuss the benefits and challenges of using popular AI-powered tools in nonprofit work.

• Overview of AI for Nonprofits
• Leveraging AI: Best Practices for Nonprofits
• Top AI Tools for Nonprofits

Overview of AI for Nonprofits

What is AI?

AI is any technology that can perform intricate tasks and mimic human intelligence. While AI has become a hot topic in recent years, it’s been around for a while, performing simpler duties like sorting emails or scheduling appointments. However, recent advancements in AI have allowed machines to better understand language, process more complex tasks, and generate original content.

In the nonprofit world, organizations typically use AI to enhance and streamline:

• Prospecting and fundraising by analyzing existing donor data for trends, and identifying new prospects with high potential to give
• Donor communication by analyzing donors based on shared characteristics and tailoring outreach to them for increased engagement
• Grant writing by quickly reading applications and generating drafts responses, based on previous applications and organizational materials
• Human resources by automating interview scheduling, onboarding, training, performance management, and more
• Graphic design by creating visually appealing infographics or mockups
• Administrative functions by automating repetitive tasks like data entry, timekeeping,  and record maintenance
• Data insights and reporting by analyzing large datasets to forecast trends and enable better decision-making

Types of AI Tools for Nonprofits

The library of AI tools is vast and ever-growing. While each organization may have its own needs and goals that AI can support, below are several common types of AI tools you may encounter:

• Generative AI: consists of machines that create new content based on user prompts and training data.
  • Nonprofit applications: Content creation for grant proposals, social media posts, and impact reports.
• Large Language Models (LLMs): systems designed to understand and generate human language by learning from vast datasets. LLMs are a subset of generative AI focused primarily on creating and understanding text.
  • Nonprofit applications: Automatically answering routine questions via chatbots or summarizing content.
• Predictive AI uses statistical models and machine learning to identify patterns in large datasets to forecast future outcomes. 
  • Nonprofit applications: Prospecting for fundraising and future financial growth.

Advantages and Challenges of Using AI

Advantages

• Increased efficiency. With AI handling mundane tasks, nonprofits can focus on more pressing mission-critical work.
• Easy data reporting. Humans are more prone to making errors when reporting on and analyzing data. AI can easily—and accurately—report on important data.
• Better decision-making. AI can provide context and information that allows nonprofits to make more informed choices faster.
• Scalability. Advanced AI solutions can easily adapt to a growing nonprofit’s needs, enabling organizations to handle increased workloads without overburdening staff. 
• Proactive growth. Most nonprofits have adopted AI, and it’s only getting more prevalent. Your nonprofit should leverage similar technology to keep up with others in the field.

Challenges

• Data privacy/security. Nonprofits must confirm that their chosen solution complies with relevant data privacy laws, like GDPR and CCPA, to keep supporter data safe and maintain their trust. Research which regulations apply to your constituents based on their location, and ensure that AI usage is transparently communicated when necessary.
• Requires human oversight. AI can make mistakes in researching and synthesizing information, so nonprofit teams need to actively maintain their solutions (more on that later). 
• Initial and ongoing costs. Like any other software solution, AI solutions have costs associated with them, both financial and in time to implement and onboard staff. 
• Ethical concerns. AI can reinforce biases based on the datasets it’s trained on. There are also concerns about Generative AI solutions trained on user data, which can plagiarize information from other sources.
• Loss of human touch. Nonprofit outreach relies on forging deep personal connections with supporters. While AI can emulate human thought, it lacks the emotional depth needed to reinforce relationships, so it still requires staff to ensure the final product aligns with an organization’s values.

Leveraging AI: Best Practices for Nonprofits

• Establish parameters for AI privacy and ethics. Your entire team should be aligned on ethical best practices while using AI. Adopt an AI usage policy and supporting AI governance infrastructure to ensure you’re fulfilling promises to stakeholders and protecting their sensitive information.
• Identify areas for AI application. While AI has many different uses, your nonprofit doesn’t have to rely on it for everything. To start, identify a few pressing areas where AI could help your operations, like content creation, data analysis, or task automation. 
• Work with an expert to implement AI effectively. The stakes are high when implementing AI, so it’s worth consulting with a professional to cover all of your bases.
• Double-check AI’s work. While AI can generate human-like text, it’s not flawless. You must review and edit the generated content to ensure it aligns with your organization’s voice, mission, and fundraising goals.
• Properly train your team. AI can present a learning curve for teams, especially those less technologically advanced. Align everyone with comprehensive AI training and educational resources.
• Don’t completely replace human interaction with AI. As previously mentioned, AI can’t perfectly emulate your connections with supporters. Use AI to brainstorm ideas for communication (like an outline) and fill in the details yourself.
• Choosing the right AI systems, developing policies, and training your team are essential, but they take time and expert knowledge to get right. By working with a professional team like Orr Group, you can get up and running with new insights and ideal tools by your side. 

Top AI Tools for Nonprofits

General Use/LLM: ChatGPT

• Use: ChatGPT is an advanced language model that has significantly influenced the nonprofit sector’s fundraising strategies. It utilizes machine learning algorithms to generate human-like text based on the input it receives. 
• Best features: Live web search, DALL-E image generation, and access to a growing dataset.
• Cost: 
  • Limited free tier
  • $20 Plus tier
  • $200 Pro tier
  • $25/user Team tier

Pro-tip: Eligible nonprofits can receive a 20% discount on ChatGPT Team and a 50% discount on ChatGPT Enterprise through OpenAI for Nonprofits. 

AI Chatbot: Cody

• Use: Cody is a chatbot that uses organizational content to answer HR-related queries for employees based on defined knowledge sources.
• Best features: Easy user interface, customizable knowledge base, task automation, and specific features for IT support, business consulting, marketing, HR, and more.
• Cost: $29/month for the Basic tier, $249/month for the Advanced tier

Writing: Grammarly

• Use: Grammarly is a browser extension that enhances grammar and generates written content.
• Best features: Tone suggestions, auto-completion of writing, and extensive user-supplemented knowledge base.
• Cost: Free tier, $12/month, $15/month

Prospecting: Apollo

• Use: Apollo is a sourcing tool that collects contact information for prospective supporters.
• Best features: Automated outreach, meeting scheduler, and CRM enrichment tools.
• Cost: Free-$119/month

Grantwriting: Grantable

• Use: Grantable is an LLM that automates aspects of the grantwriting and submission processes.
• Best features: Ability to train the system from writing samples, reference user-uploaded materials from a library, and include educational resources.
• Cost: Free-$89/month

Graphic Design: Gamma

• Use: Gamma is a graphic design platform that facilitates the creation of presentations, documents, webpages, infographics, and more.
• Best features: AI-generated designs, customization options, and user-friendly interface.
• Cost: Free-$15/seat/month

Administrative: Zapier

• Use: Zapier automates repetitive administrative tasks while connecting various apps and services.
• Best features: Configurable workflows, app integrations, and a large integration ecosystem.
• Cost: Free-$69/month

Data Management: Microsoft Power BI

• Use: Microsoft Power BI is a Microsoft add-on tool that allows users to create reports, visualize data, and share insights. Can be combined with Microsoft Copilot 365 for AI data insights.
• Best features: User-friendly integrations with Microsoft Suite, interactive dashboards, and customizable reports.
• Cost: Free-$10/user/month

Meeting Management: Zoom AI Companion

• Use: Zoom AI Companion simplifies meeting management by automatically completing tasks during the meeting.
• Best features: Real-time meeting transcriptions, agenda generation, and ability to assign next actions with a meeting summary.
• Cost: Free with paid Zoom account

Now that you have a solid understanding of AI in the nonprofit world, it’s time to create and execute your own strategy! Developing policies, training your team, and staying updated on the newest best practices can be draining—but it doesn’t have to be. Having an expert team by your side allows you to play around with these tools, test them out, and see what works for you without compromising mission-critical activities.

We suggest working with a team with a business-oriented mindset, embedded partnership approach, and AI-specific expertise, like Orr Group. Our well-rounded nonprofit experience and hands-on strategy can help your nonprofit become more comfortable with AI and develop a sustainable use policy in the long term. That way, you can adapt to the rapidly-changing world of AI with ease!